After successfully participating in the first phase of the competition as part of a limited group of 9 international teams, the team comprised of Francesco Cellini – insula architettura e ingegneria with Huseyin Kaptan – Atelye 70 was awarded ‘7 out of 8 votes’ by the members of the jury of the competition for the redevelopment of the Yenikapi Transfer Point and Archaeo-Park area. They proposed, for the central area, a close functional and above all cultural integration between the spaces dedicated to users of the subway system – estimated at some 1,700,000 people per day – and those destined for the ‘City Archive’. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Courtesy of insula architettura e ingegneria + Atelye 70

The competition for the “Yenikapi Transfer Point and Archaeo-Park area” required a solution for the relationship between the main node of interchange in the city between various subway lines, the site of the ancient Port of Theodosius unearthed during the course of works, and the consequent validation of archaeological findings of extraordinary historical and cultural importance, including 35 ships from the Byzantine era.

Courtesy of insula architettura e ingegneria + Atelye 70

The target area of this complex and articulated urban transformation project extends across more than 28 hectares in the heart of the historical peninsula of the Turkish metropolis and required the development of a master plan for the requalification of public spaces, the realization of new parks and the rehabilitation of two neighborhoods.

Courtesy of insula architettura e ingegneria + Atelye 70

The 33,000 square meter City Archive is conceived as a space dedicated to the archaeological findings and an active “hub” of the history and future of the metropolis. All of this is located inside the large “archaeological nave” that, located precisely atop the original site, represents the multi-secular vitality and richness of a port that once represented the principal commercial link between the city of Istanbul and the rest of the Mediterranean world.